Chronicles of Brood
by RavynsLand
Summary: After the events of The Force Unleashed and Galen Marek's death, Maris Brood holds true to her self-imposed exile and leaves the Dark Side-corrupted planet of Felucia on a small shuttle. With the Light and Dark Sides of the Force vying for position within her, the zabrak padawan eventually finds herself on Dagobah...
1. Chapter One -- Dagobah

Nothing had been saved. Both of her masters had been lost. She had been driven from the planet she had rightfully taken for her own. Even the dark side no longer wanted her.

Maris Brood was truly alone, and she knew who to blame. There was Vader – Darth Vader, the "lord of the sith". There was Palpatine, the dark Emperor, the ruler of this twisted world. And then there was him – the boy. The apprentice, the assassin. Killed by the Emperor not long ago.

This was his fault. He had taken Shaak Ti from her, taken the senator from her, taken away her pride and driven her from Felucia. Now, even he was gone. Vengeance could not be had. She was without a goal, without guidance, without a master, without a home.

Multiple heavy stones dropped from their positions – floating in a ring around the zabrak – as Maris's train of thought ended. It was pointless even contemplating it – her connection to the force was scattered, with both light and dark sides vying for her tainted affection. She had promised him, that dark apprentice, that she would turn her back on the dark side. Vowed to him when he had spared her life.

But despite her efforts, the Dark Side of the Force had not turned its back on her.

Now, all she had was this place, this new hell. The system was damn near uncharted, as far as she knew – utterly empty of any intelligent life. Maybe it was better that way. Maris could concentrate on her connection with the animal and plant life, could train herself among them. Maybe she didn't need a master, or a mistress. What was the point, anyway? Being a jedi was of no use, anyway – all it did was make you a target. She had no authority, no rightful place in civilization. Perhaps this miserable, wet, stinking hole... this 'Dagobah'... was where she belonged.

The zabrak girl twitched at the sound of a sudden bursting gas-bubble from a nearby, fetid pond. She let out a quiet groan and flopped back down onto the sticky, mossy rock she had been crouching on, her elbows resting on her thighs. Then again, maybe this wasn't where she belonged, and maybe nobody belonged here at all.

"I hate this place..." she growled, using her unstable connection with the Force to lift a small rock and toss it aimlessly at the pond, causing a dull, thick-sounding splash and an awkward burbling sound.

"Hate it, do you? My home this is – perhaps, hate you, it does, mmrh? Ooughrhhurhurhurhourgh."


	2. Chapter Two -- Yoda

"Foul creature!" Maris quickly snapped, recoiling from the source of the voice and rolling backwards into a crouch. A pair of guard shotos zoomed telekinetically into her hands, but did not activate. The source of the voice became quickly apparent, astonishingly so – not because of its size, or because it clashed with the environment. Both of those were quite the opposite.

The sudden, pure rush of the Force, however, nearly knocked the zabrak back, buzzing within her mind. Even amongst the teeming plant and animal life here, even among this thriving utopia of primal life energy, the voice that had spoken emanated something stronger. Something more quintessential and amazing... like the aura of a master Jedi.

"Foul, you say? Eeeurghurhurgh, perhaps, look at yourself you should, before judge me you do." This new comment was echoed by a quiet, small grunting, accompanied by the heavy breath of someone struggling to move along this terrain. There was a clack of a tiny wooden cane, and the wizened green creature let himself drop rump-first onto a nearby tall rock. "Tell me, young one... why do you come here?"

Maris Brood narrowed her eyes and held her position, inhaling slowly and gazing upon the tiny green man. His garb was familiar, attesting to the presence she had felt coming from him. The brown suit, the pale tan robe... it meant only one thing. This man was, or had been, a member of the Jedi Council – and judging by his pigment and stature, there was only one person he could be.

"You are Master Yoda," she breathed out, slowly slipping her shotos back into their respective sheathes but not bowing, or kneeling. She was still stunned by his mere presence here, in this desolate bog where she had thought herself utterly alone. "You were killed by the Emperor years ago."

"The truth, you speak," the tiny man said, a smug hint of a smile curling his wrinkled lips. "But answer my question, you did not."

"My home is tainted by the Dark Side. I had no choice but to leave."

"And drawn here, you were?"

The zabrak opened her mouth to reply, but then paused. _No, I just came here_, was what she didn't say, but after a moment of reflection, of searching her feelings, she knew the man's words to be true. There had been more convenient locations along the way to Dagobah, more habitable places. Places with other people. She had passed them by, made a bee-line to this place. Even as conflicted as she was, she had been somehow drawn to this bog. "I was," she finally whispered.

Yoda's throaty cackle rang out, and he tapped his cane merrily against the rock he sat upon... but then his voice grew more serious, his eyes downcast. Had the man gone mad? He seemed to lack the... posture, that her master had told her tales of. The wisdom. His words seemed instinctive and random. "Strange, this is," he said glumly. "I believed the Jedi to be long gone... all destroyed. Just me left."

"That's why you abandoned us?" Maris said, finally standing and taking one wary step closer. Mad though the little green creature seemed, if even a shadow of the old swordsman remained, Yoda would be able to defeat her in less than seconds, no matter what she did. Caution almost seemed irrelevant. "You thought the Jedi stood no chance? There are many of us left, untouched by Vader and his young assassin..."

Then it happened. A surge of energy, of emotion. Of rage. Of blame and despair. A surge of the Dark Side. "We needed you! You could have helped us – _you_ could have defeated Vader and his apprentice. If you hadn't come here, my master may still be alive!" Maris spat her words, a vague sparkle of red energy formed a corona around her scorched hands, the Dark Side warring with what purity still remained inside of her.

Yoda inhaled deeply, but didn't move. His wise old eyes stayed on the younger girl, digesting her words, though they were not new to him. These thoughts remained with him, and had for the past countless years. Qui-Gon had spoken of it, as well. Questioned Yoda's decision to exile himself, questioned whether he was damning the rest of the Jedi with his choice. It was too late now, anyway... if this girl was the only Force-user who had found her way here in all this time, there was no way there were enough Jedi left to fight back. "Late it grows, young one," Yoda whispered, hobbling to his feet and ignoring Maris's words. "To my home I go, welcome there you are. Speak more after dinner, we shall."

"But you-" Maris began, but it was pointless. He had dodged her accusation on purpose, and there was no use in pushing the issue until Yoda decided to address it himself. The glow around her hands faded slightly and she let out an exhausted sigh. Eating and resting didn't sound bad, honestly, and it hadn't taken long at all for this bog to get on her nerves. "Very well, Master Yoda."


	3. Chapter Three -- Padawan

_Why couldn't I have gone somewhere dry... I hear Tattooine is great this time of year_, Maris thought to herself with a deep sigh as she stomped on through the muck. She tried using the Force to lighten her steps, but it was pointless. She'd gain a bit of levity before the instability of her power would take its toll, causing her to fall into the ubiquitous muck of Dagobah. The fact that she was barely able to keep up with the two-foot-tall, grunting, wheezing green miser was outright shameful.

"Much conflict within you, is there not?" Yoda said, glancing over his shoulder at the slime-covered zabrak. He was sitting up on the bough of one of those gnarled trees now, and Maris could barely hear his voice over the cacophanous hum of Dagobah's wildlife. If she still had the Force at her command, she'd be riding one of these swamp creatures even now... but both sides remained a stranger to her grasp.

"What's it to you, shorty?" The girl said with a deep sigh, relaxing her muscles and just standing for a moment, knee-deep in the muck. She'd have to give her sabers a thorough cleaning later on, if the contents of her pack weren't ruined by now. "Felucia's corruption... confused my connection with the Force. I'll get it back."

"Blame a place for this conflict, you do?" Yoda said, tilting his head. "Is within _yourself_, the problem not? Look at me. Corrupted, am I?"

"It's not the same!" Maris shouted, dragging herself up onto the bank beneath the tree Yoda sat on. "This place – the energy here is pure, wild. Primal. Felucia was plagued by the Dark Side."

"And lived only here, have I? Mmrrgh?" Yoda let out one of his demented little giggles. "Made the galaxy a haven of the Dark Side, the Emperor has. If corrupted you do not wish to be, then be pure, _you_ must. Ooughrurhurhrur!"

The zabrak teen let out an exhausted sigh. She had a feeling, already, that she was going to hate Yoda... but it was better than being alone in this place. She could at least hang around for a while until she thought of a better place to go.

"Come, come, young one! Almost there we are!" the little green creature said in a chipper tone, hobbling off the branch and continuing to scurry through the swamp with Maris just behind.

The inside of Yoda's little clay hut was... well, cramped. Big enough for him, of course. Less so for Maris. The zabrak still wasn't sure why Yoda had invited her here, unless it was simply to keep lecturing her, but she was willing to endure it for the time being. Maybe his presence would help her gain a bit of focus, at least. She had acclimated to the overwhelming power of his aura but its sheer strength still amazed her, especially considering how utterly daft he seemed.

"Tell me, young one – who did you study with?" Yoda chirped softly, already busying himself around a tiny stove to prepare dinner. It was an amusing sight, but only vaguely.

"Most recently, Jedi Master Shaak Ti. I am trained in the Ataru and Soresu styles but also have an interest in Vapaad; not that I can find anyone to train me."

"Is this, to you, being a Jedi? Lightsaber forms and special powers, mmrh?" Yoda tutted and set a tiny kettle onto the stove before glancing back at the zabrak. "Consider, did you, why this was why you were pulled to the Dark Side of the Force?"

Maris furrowed her brow, adopting an expression that was indisputably the bastard child of a scowl and a pout. "Yes, I get it, Master Ti told me all about that. Using the Force is about purity and justice, not fun or being cool or badass."

"...Not always," Yoda said, turning his eyes back to the stove.

"_Don't copy my mistakes, Master Yoda,"_ came a soft voice that Maris did not hear, a voice meant for the wizened green Jedi and him alone. _"We saw what happened when I went against your orders and trained a young boy who was vulnerable to the Dark Side's pull."_

"Copy them I will not," Yoda whispered, his eyes drifting shut, his voice too low for the zabrak to hear – a mere murmur. "Teach her properly, I will. Find a balance, she can."

"Master Yoda?" Maris said, her hands on her hips and head tilted to the side.

The green man looked up at her, raising his voice to an audible level. "Perhaps... train you, _I_ will."


	4. Chapter Four -- Vapaad

"This is stupid."

"If train you I will, worry what you look like you must not!" Yoda tutted, standing firmly with both hands on his cane. Maris was standing on one foot, eyes closed, with both arms out. Her job was to hold both of her lightsabers in the air with telekinesis for some indeterminate amount of time, despite her claims that her telekinetic powers were not lacking.

"Master Yoda, I've done all of this before!" the zabrak barked. "You think Shaak Ti didn't make me do this stuff while I was training with her? I've levitated and held up the lightsabers, stood on my head – I've commanded a bull rancor before!"

"And make you a good Jedi, this did?"

"I was more powerful than my master." Maris sighed out hard, dropping her pose and quickly catching both falling sabers. "The only reason I'm not a Jedi Knight is because the Jedi Order doesn't even _exist_ anymore, and that isn't my fault!"

Yoda nodded, tapping his cane idly on a rock. The tiny gesture caused his ears to jiggle in a way that Maris was trying not to find funny. "Not only powerful is a Jedi Knight... but wise. Never your mind on what is right." The tiny man shook his head. "Only your desires."

"These are different times, Master Yoda. We've all been wiped out – the old codes don't work anymore! They didn't save us from Vader and the Emperor, they didn't stop the Order from being completely destroyed!" Again, that soft glow. That hazy red. The darkening of Maris's eyes that showed how the Dark Side was starting to swell within her. "We need to survive, not sit around and talk about what's right and what isn't."

"That is why you are not yet a Jedi."

"Gahh!" Maris screamed, throwing one of her saber handles at Yoda in her rage, which the tiny man stopped in mid-air with a simple gesture. She stormed off in the opposite direction, heading for her crashed shuttle.

"_This is the girl you want to train, Master Yoda? She reminds me of Anakin at that age... perhaps worse. At least he had some control over his passion."_

"Harness her passion we will," Yoda said softly, tucking the guard shoto handle into his robe. "Remember Master Windu, do you?"

With Maris gone, the hazy, bluish figure Yoda spoke with stepped from behind a tree as if he had been there all along. He was tall and robed, dignified. A Jedi Master like the man he spoke with. _"Of course I do,"_ Qui-Gon Jinn said quietly. _"A master of the Vapaad style, wielder of a violet lightsaber. One of the elders of the Order. I'll never forget him."_

"Shun the power of the Dark Side, he did not, rrrmgh?" Yoda closed his eyes for a brief, pensive moment before looking the way Maris had run. The Dark Side was strong in her, too strong to quell. But if she could be taught the power of the Light, shown it, experience it and taught how to harness it, perhaps she could blend the two into a force for good as Mace Windu had.

"_Mace Windu was a master of the Jedi Order, he did not take the responsibility of the Vapaad style lightly. Does she even know what it is?"_

"Know of it she does... and taken an interest in it, she has."

"_And you plan to put a weapon like that into her hands? If you taught her properly she could become an incredibly powerful Jedi – or an equally powerful Sith. Would you trade one dominion over the galaxy for another just as strong?"_

"I would," Yoda said softly. "Teach her I will. I can show her the first styles, get her to focus the powers within her. Then..."

"_You will have to send her out into the world. She cannot test and temper her powers if all she does is train,"_ Qui-Gon folded his arms. _"You'll send her off before she's ready."_

"Become ready quickly, she will have to."


End file.
